LWB has been doing foster care in Henan province for almost a year and a half. In Kaifeng, the abandonment of children is not common, and we were particularly struck by one statistic the orphanage shared with us. They told us that 90% of the children living in the orphanage were abandoned at the hospital in town. 90%. We think this shows that the majority of time, birthparents are trying everything possible to keep their children and only abandon when their medical needs are too great for the family to handle. Because of this, most of children in our foster care program have medical needs, and so many are very tiny and weak when they first enter the program.
Today we opened up the newest foster care reports sent by our local facilitator, and with each new report our smiles grew bigger and bigger. The children look so healthy and beautiful, and in each report the love they are receiving is so obvious. We just had to share this wonderful photo of one little girl in the program. She has become so happy and healthy in her foster home. Our favorite line was this one, as it shows that the goal of foster care is to give these beautiful children the most normal life possible. "She likes hanging out with her grandma and aunty".
Isn't that a beautiful line? Wouldn't every child like to "hang out with Grandma"?
Thanks to everyone who helps to make foster care possible for orphaned children in China. What a priceless gift they are receiving.
